First You Try Everything: A Novel
3.5/5
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About this ebook
An engrossing tale of a marriage that’s falling apart and a wife who will stop at nothing to keep it together.
From their early days in college, Evvie and Ben were drawn to each other by feelings of isolation stemming from their wounded childhoods, passionate idealism, and zeal for music. Sheltered by their love, they weathered the challenges and trials of the imperfect world around them. But as the years passed, they grew apart. Now Ben has his sights set on a completely different kind of future—alone, or with someone else.
Convinced that Ben cannot live without her, Evvie begins to unravel, as she obsessively devises ways to reclaim the love that she cannot let go of. She gambles on a spectacularly dangerous scheme, one that may ultimately have devastating consequences.
Jane McCafferty has written a highly original, utterly beguiling, and emotionally satisfying novel about marriage. Told from alternating viewpoints, this gripping, psychologically astute, and madcap novel illuminates the power of love to define and transform our lives, for better or for worse.
Jane McCafferty
Jane McCafferty is the author of the novel One Heart and two collections of stories, Thank You for the Music and Director of the World and Other Stories, which won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. She is the recipient of an NEA award, the Great Lakes Colleges Association’s New Writers Award, and two Pushcart Prizes. She lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Reviews for First You Try Everything
38 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I really liked the first 2/3 of this book as the main two characters grappled with the obvious flaws and trouble in their relationship. It was believable and interesting. I was somewhat less interested and not at all believing of the ending of the book and the events that led up to it. I reckon McCafferty is a pretty good writer in the sense that she's an astute observer of human behaviour and can get those observations onto paper. Sure, her characters are often a bit on the wacky side, but I like that in many ways. I think the society I live in has a lot more wacky people - slightly deviant and not really comfortable with the mainstream - than we tend to recognise.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I find it really hard to like a book where I just didn't like or understand the main characters.I had this problem with this book as well. Although I was drawn to the his/her alternating chapters in the book, and at first could not put it down - by the "climax" at the end of it, I didn't like either Evie or Ben. Evie was so whiny I just wanted to punch her. Ben seemed so apathetic and passive, I wanted to punch him too!However, the story of this long married couple and their relationship disintergrating was an interesting read by an author I will look out for in the future.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Very slow and unengaging start
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5ok. not great, just ok
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane McCafferty’s novel, First You Try Everything, charts the course of a dissolving marriage from the alternating perspectives of husband (Ben) and wife (Evvie). When young, Ben and Evvie were inseparable, sharing a love of music and freedom from career constraints. Over time, Ben has shed the alternative lifestyle of his youth and settled down in a stable, if mundane career. Fed up with Evvie’s antics, Ben decides to leave his eccentric and emotionally unstable wife, setting off a series of heartbreaking reunion attempts by Evvie. First You Try Everything is a vivid depiction of how relationships change over time and a sensitive portrayal of unconventional mental states. Certain parts of the plot stretch credulity, but the dramatic effects are worth the required suspension of disbelief.
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- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5By Jane McCaffertyGrowing, aging, and evolving, is inevitable. It is life. It is meant to be. Ideally, a couple remains connected and does this together. That is the vow of marriage. Commitment is the root of the vow. It takes equal commitment from both people, and it must be sincere, from the heart.Evvie and Ben have been together since college. Common childhoods and interests brought them together, sealing their bond.As years pass and life happens, differences form. Ben becomes involved in the corporate world. Creating a career also provides a lifestyle for them as a couple. He feels this is the best road to take to achieve the goals best suited for their future.Evvie holds onto her ideals and the freedom that comes with them. She clings to what the couple originally had together. Suddenly, she realizes that Ben has taken a different road, one without her. She becomes obsessed with the idea that they belong together, whatever the cost. She sets her mind on this idea, going to extreme lengths to keep them together.The story of a couple is told in their alternating voices. It is an emotional story, taking you inside a marriage, revealing a couple who have grown apart. This novel explores the issue from the inside out.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was not at all what I expected. I didn't want to read it at first, but was on a long trip and a friend whose opinion I respect handed it to me to pass time. I was engrossed in no time at all in this painful yet beautiful story.Evvie and Ben are in love, but Evvie is idealistic, needy and a bit insane--she talks to herself in public and lacks true purpose despite her radical idealism and commitment to animal rights. She clings to her soulmate, Ben, to the point of smothering him. The years pass and as Ben gets older and changes, he can no longer bear the traits that once drew him to Evvie and he leaves her. Heartbroken and distressed, Evvie's behavior gets more and more crazy, especially when Ben moves on with another woman. As he tries to completely cut her off, she grows more and more deranged and hatches an insane plan to get him back.As Evvie's scheme plays out, it's clear how far off the deep end she has gone--and it slowly becomes clear to Evvie herself. It's hard to watch Ben ignore her repeated cries for help, especially when they were once so in love. What I love about the book is the way it shows us how clearly this couple can never again be together, yet a part of each other will always be intertwined.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At first, reading this novel was like seeing a bad accident: intensely disturbing, but impossible to look away. The novel details the unraveling of Ben and Evvie's marriage. Once deeply in love (and probably a tad bit codependent) the couple has drifted apart, and Ben has decided to end the marriage. Evvie, who still loves him and wants to hang on to the marriage, is sent on a downward spiral that threatens her sanity.Initially the characters were a bit one-dimensional (clingy, neurotic wife and distant husband), but the writing was terrific enough to overshadow this. As the novel progressed, different layers of the characters were revealed such that the reader, presented with alternating narratives from Ben and Evvie's viewpoints, gets a sense of what it is to be them.At the end of the day, no one walks away from the end of a marriage unscathed, no matter whose choice it is; there are no clean breaks, and no clear sinners or saints. Jane McCafferty fluently articulates the psychological messiness of the end of a relationship, and makes it impossible to turn away.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I received this novel from a Goodreads giveaway, that in no way affects the content of my review.This novel is about a couple, Ben and Evvie, who had been together for 16 years when Ben decided that he no longer wants to be with Evvie. He sees Evvie as a changed person, one that he can no longer live with. Evvie still wants to be with Ben and becomes desperate to get him back. Evvie's plans to get Ben back spiral them both into a dangerous situation.From the start of this novel I thought that there was something a little off with Evvie. She just became more insane throughout the book, and it felt like watching a carwreck, you don't want to watch but you can't look away. I found myself yelling at Ben to stop encouraging her. I think her mental illnesses (because she clearly has some no matter how she tries to say she doesn't) run in the family. Cedric seemed a little off to me too.The start of the novel felt like I jumped into the middle of a story. Throughout the novel I wanted more back story on both Ben and Evvie. It was a little hard for me to connect with them at first. I enjoyed the ending of the novel and enjoyed how the characters lives played out after a couple years.I would recommend this book to family and friends. Evvie will hook you into this novel.